Too funny -- most makers in the survival knife field abuse the heck out of the knives because they know the knives can take it and they want to know if a knife fails and what caused the failure. Gerber OTOH specifically warns against abuse in their warranty:

Interesting. Was it Tarzan movies or Rambo that implanted in our little heads the concept that a big, honkin' nife was about the only thing you needed for survival....?

It's hard to stand by and watch a classic knife company stray away from the quality that made them classic. The economic lure of Chinese or Pakistan made knives has taken away too many customers and become the solution for profitability for overpaid and unimaginitive CEO's who focus only on the quarterly profits. These CEO's are willing to ride the company brand into the ground, deploying their golden parachutes at the last minute. These factors contributed to the fall of Schrade and Camillus among others. Even Leatherman no longer has the 'USA' stamp on the pliers. If a company CEO is determined to go cheap, then all we can do is vote with our checkbooks.

Don't know, I suspect it's in our genetic code Personally, I'm a proponent of folders and smaller fixed blades as survival knives because survival is usually come as you are and I rarely if ever see anyone actually carry one of the big wilderness blades. The typical survival could just as easily be a SAK or a Case Stockman. If it's a Victorinox Farmer with a saw, you might be in better shape than carrying a BG toy.

My typical woods carry is a locking folder, an SAK and a small fixed blade. The big fixed blade knives typicaly sold as "survival knives" are too much to casually carry every day. However, the fixed blade knives I carry will not fall apart if I beat on them because I view them as tools. Gerbers warranty is laughable when applied to a survival knife.

This saddens me. Not because I would have considered buying the knife but because I am considering buying the BG endorsed pants produced by Craghopper. Now I'm doubting the quality of these as well...

http://www.us.craghoppers.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product3_14552_26762_-1_142805_13052

Bear Grylls is a walking trademark . . There may be some good stuff in his clothing line, but the same or comparable stuff can be found outside his line at a better price . .

Neither. Jim Bowie.

Jim Bowie had a song,i also remember the first program where he told the blacksmith he wanted a copper back on the blade to grab and hold the edge of his opponents knife.--"jim bowie,jim bowie,man of the west,,dum..dum..da da"--something like that--

This thread turned out to be very good for me. Unbeknownst to me, the OP just happened to be a good friend of mine from 15-20 years ago. We worked on an ambulance service together and had a lot of fun. He recognized my name from my reply and gave me a call.

How cool is that???!!!

So you're saying that Bear Grylls' knife does have a redeeming feature -- bringing old friends together in critique. Merry Christmas